"Loud and clear," Zack responded as he closed her door and locked his car. This was an easy day. He glanced at the stern yet pretty woman at his side, planning where to take her to lunch afterward. If nothing else, Mei needed food to sustain her temper. "We're going in."

"Copy that."

Apprehension first entered his mind when he spotted security bars on the windows and painted bas.e.m.e.nt window gla.s.s. He relayed the observation to his buddies in the van and rolled his shoulders to feel the weight of the holstered firearms at his sides. For now, those pistols were hidden beneath his jacket. It never hurt to be prepared.

"No alarm system in view. Hold on a second. Let me activate the Interceptor." He reached into his pants pocket and hit the switch on another of Mother's inventions; a device no bigger than his key fob which could detect any type of detection system on the premises that might pick up on or interfere with his earpiece and comm link. It was a spy versus spy contraption, no more amazing to Zack than the woman who'd come up with it. Why Mother didn't go into business for herself and make a billion off her techie inventions was a puzzle he could not solve. Maybe she thrived on the abuse from Alex, or maybe it was the abuse she gave him. Who knew?

"Take it slow," David advised.

There wasn't a blade of gra.s.s outside the house. An eight-foot high wooden fence concealed the backyard, allowing no visibility. Any other time, the scenario would have felt like a trap. The hair stood up on the back of his neck. It was a trapfor all those children.

"No indication children live here," Zack relayed to David. "No toys in the yard. No trikes. No swing sets. Nothing."

"They don't let them outside to play."

"They don't want the girls to run away." Mei hugged into his bicep.

He scanned the bleak industrial neighborhood where the lone house stood. It didn't offer much in the way of the big friendly places he'd grown up in, where kids called everyone's parents Mom and Pop. It didn't offer much at all.

They climbed the five concrete steps to the porch and knocked on the door. The planks on the porch were weathered and split. Chipped gray paint covered everything.

"First Tattle Tale in place," Zack said as he pressed the device above the hole where a doorbell had been. Tattle Tales were another of Mother's genius inventions. Wireless and nearly invisible to the human eye, they resembled common everyday household items: the head of a tack, a vinyl b.u.mper pad one might use to m.u.f.fle a cabinet door, even a speck of plaster. But the video and audio feed they provided was clear as a bell. Crystal clear.

"Receiving," David confirmed.

An older Chinese woman jerked the door open, startling Mei. Zack pulled her under his arm.

"You Burns?" the woman snapped, a lighted cigarette dangling off her lip.

"Yes, ma'am. Quentin and Amelia Burns. We're here to-"

"I know why you here. Me Jun."

"Her name means, 'to be truthful'." David supplied a useless piece of trivia that Zack instantly filed away for a later laugh. This woman had nothing to do with the truth.

Jun opened the door and waved them into the dark interior of the home, a hallway that opened into a room to the right and another hallway straight ahead. Before he moved, Zack pressed another Tattle Tale to the wall beside the front doorjamb, giving David his first view of the interior. The devices were simple to install, no tougher than touching the door with his fingertip.

"Receiving second feed," he acknowledged the transmission.

An older man waited at the junction of the halls, his arms thick and his clothes baggy. Zack angled Mei so she walked on his other side, away from the stranger. Narrow halls made for perfect ambushes. Not today. Another Tattle Tale went active.

"Third," David said, as calmly as ever.

Jun directed Zack and Mei into an empty room with a sliding gla.s.s door on the opposite wall. "Sit. You wait here," she barked as she left, shutting the door behind her.

Zack went to the gla.s.s, wishing he could shield Mei from whatever was on the other side. He couldn't. He wasn't prepared himself.

"Looking at maybe fifty Chinese females, all under the age of ten, maybe younger," he relayed to his buddies in the surveillance van as he secured the fourth video/listening device to the window frame. Dozens of girls crowded the expansive room; some playing quietly, and others chatting. The child sitting alone beneath the window caught his eye. She sat with her legs curled beneath her, rocking back and forth, her arms wrapped tightly around herself.

The room was Chai multiplied. The lack of smiles, the sea of orange dresses, and the bareness of the gym-like room took his breath. No adults supervised the playtime, if that's what it was. There seemed to be no need. The girls were oddly calm and orderly, not like any kids he'd grown up with.

"Any signs of abuse?" David asked.

"Other than the fact they're here?" Zack asked, searching for signs of sickness and physical a.s.sault. "Nothing obvious," he rasped. "G.o.d, David. You should see this."

"I do," he answered somberly.

"She doesn't look well, does she?" Mei watched the girl beneath the window. "They're all so thin. I don't see LiLi."

"Don't get your hopes up," he reminded her, his arm around her again. "She might not be here."

The door behind them opened. Jun barked at several girls as they scurried inside. Their faces were expressionless and almost resolute, too mature for their tender ages. Like little orange soldiers, they lined up against the wall and turned to face Zack and Mei without a word. He activated Tale number five to doc.u.ment what was happening inside the room. Stark reality dawned on him. He might not have brought enough Tattle Tales.

"These girls four year to seven year. They good. Strong." Jun lit up another cigarette. "You like?"

"Hey there." Zack offered his hand to the first little girl. "How-"

"You no touch! You no talk!" Jun screeched, the cigarette bobbing on her lip. "These girls no talk, so you no talk."

Zack shrugged. Fine. Whatever. He wasn't here to make trouble, but what a stupid rule. "How are we supposed to get to know them if we can't talk to them?" he asked.

"You buy first." Her crabby face wrinkled like she was trying to intimidate Zack.

Give me a break. He stared her down. This was a cold-hearted madam, pure and simple, a pig of an older woman who sold little girl flesh to the highest bidder. A troll by any other name.

"You want?" She jerked her head toward the girls, her palm held open. "You pay?"

He shook his head. "No, ma'am. I-"

"Then you want see babies now?" she screeched again, impatient and rude.

"Yes," Mei spoke up, preventing Zack from saying what had sprung to the tip of his tongue.

The older woman snapped at the girls. They left as quickly and as quietly as they'd entered.

He leaned into Mei's ear. "What'd she say?"

"She told them to go away." Mei's voice sounded firm, but he saw the tremble. "No one wants ugly dogs."

"Are you two okay?" David asked kindly. It had to be hard for him, too.

Zack couldn't speak with Jun nearby. He tapped his earpiece to signal affirmative.

"You come. Now. You come." Jun screeched from the hall, her hand on her hip and a glare in her eye.

Zack tucked Mei under his arm, stepping between her and their obnoxious guide while his mind worked the gaping flaw in the logistics of this illegal trade. How had all those uber-elitist couples been introduced to the children they'd adopted? There had to have been an agent involved, someone who'd circ.u.mvented the very distasteful selection process. Like a lawyer? Yeah. That had to be how they facilitated the transfer of ownership, one shark to another.

SEVENTEEN.

The nightmare continued.

Jun waved Zack and Mei to another set of doors. The moment she opened them, a wave of uncleanliness a.s.saulted his nose, the odor of too many unchanged diapers and vomit. Oddly, no children cried from within. No coos or giggles either.

Mei grimaced and covered her nose with the back of her hand as she followed Jun into a long narrow room. Five baby beds lined one wall; four playpens lined the opposite wall. There were no windows. The aisle in the middle of the room accommodated one changing table, a metal shelf of diapers, clothing and other baby supplies. Each bed held two infants, separated by a wooden board placed widthwise. The playpens contained two or three toddler-sized little girls, sitting or standing. Dozens of eyes turned to the sound of adults at the door.

Zack froze at the doorway, taking in the sight. He meant to position another Tattle Tale, but his heart failed. The room looked more like a kennel, a pound, where children were penned like animals. All those little girls' eyes were pairs of almond shaped lasers to his soul. Yes, the cages were baby beds and playpens, but the sheer magnitude stole his breath. This was the nursery?

"Send me a feed," David reminded him.

Mei stood waiting, her face ashen. "Come," she said softly, her hand reaching for him.

Zack pressed the Tattle Tale to the doorframe before he stepped into the room. David's soft gasp in his ear was the only confirmation he heard that the video device was sending. His lungs seemed incapable of pulling in air. Too many babies watched him. He clutched Mei's fingers, pulling her arm into his as together they moved from playpen to playpen and bed to bed, looking into the face of every girl.

These little ones were as serious and unsmiling as the older girls. Each had the same short haircut and the same mirthless eyes staring back. One little girl stood at the side of her playpen, her thumb in her mouth and drool on her chin. The second he looked at her, she lifted her arms to be picked up. He couldn't resist. Innocently, Zack reached out to tousle her hair.

"You no touch." Jun wagged her bony finger at him from where she stood at the door. "No touch. No talk."

And he'd had enough. A man can only be bullied for so long, and he'd had a gut full.

"What if I want this one?" He picked up the little gal with the upstretched arms, the one reaching for him, and seated her tiny b.u.t.t on his forearm. She was a delicate little thing, maybe one and a half years old, with the saddest eyes. He only wanted to put a smile on her all too serious baby face. That's how he was made, to give women what they wanted no matter how old they were.

Jun sputtered.

The fragile little lady on his arm looked up at him. Instinctively, he cupped her head. She fit so easily in the palm of his hand. Two pouty lips puckered into the saddest smile as she laid her head against his chest. The flutter of her heartbeat against his melted him. The baby looked up at him, and he fell into her eyes. The universe shifted. A tiny baby sigh escaped her lips, and his big tough, ex-Marine heart fell a thousand feet.

David was saying something in his ear, but all he could see was Mei looking at him with sudden tenderness and mouthing the word, 'No'.

It was too late. He'd been smitten by the power of love at first sight and smitten hard. Somehow, when he'd chosen her, the baby had also picked him.

Jun's beady eyes lit up. "You like? You take? Good. Good."

Here he was, a highly trained soldiera sniper. He'd been through combat. He'd seen orphans and motherless children before. h.e.l.l, the world was full of them, but until this moment they'd all moved around him like a human sea he wasn't really part of. They were nameless. Not his problem. Medics treated them. He might toss handfuls of candy, but for the most part, a sniper's life was lonely. He'd lived a remote life that facilitated his mission.

But standing there in a stench-filled room with a fragile life in the same hands that had squeezed off death-dealing rounds all over the world, Zack couldn't breathe, much less think. A warm feeling for which he had no resistance flooded his body from head to toe, taking his common sense with it. Something rare and wonderful had just happened. He couldn't pretend it hadn't.

Mei came right away to him and tried to pull the little girl out of his arms.

"Don't." He turned away from her, maintaining careful hold on his baby. "This is the one...I want."

"No." Mei elbowed him, her determination in high gear. "We must see them all."

"But you don't understand." He heard his mouth working. For some reason his brain was no longer attached to it.

"Remember why we are here?" she hissed, her eyes as hard and cold as Jun's.

Zack stared. Oh, h.e.l.l. He was an idiot. Plain and simple. He'd let his emotion get the best of himagain. They were not here to rescue or select. Not yet. Not today. His brain had slipped a gear, popped a clutch.

Reality hit him hard when she eased the child from his grasp and replaced her in the filthy playpen. Mei knew how to hold a baby. He blinked hard, looking down on the little girl again. She'd scrambled back to the side of the playpen and pulled herself up, her fingers clutching the netting until she stood again, her eyes glistening with 'Please take me home. Don't leave me'.

He gulped, reaching for the baby girl again.

"No." Mei was not so gentle this time. She dug her nails into the back of his arm, pulling him away.

"Not yet," he growled, twisting out of her grasp. "I can't leave her."

"Yes, Agent Lennox, you can." Mei jerked him again, forcing him to look down at her.

Zack looked down at the wolverine on his arm. Man, she had mean eyes, she was right. They were on a mission to find her daughter. That's all. Just LiLi.

"We are through here." Mei hissed a rapid string of scolding Chinese at Jun.

The older woman waved her hand, pointing to the front door. "Go then. No baby for you. Who care? Go." She blew a puff of cigarette smoke at them. "You two very stupid."

Mei's fingers pinched all the way through his leather coat as she pushed him away.

"No," he groaned.

"Yes," she countered quickly.

"I can't just-"

"You will." Mei's whispered command cut through the daze.

Zack steeled himself. She's right. What's wrong with me? I'm on a mission. I can't screw this op, too.

His feet moved. Something annoying kept buzzing in his ear. He walked out the door, his heart pounding painfully hard as he dutifully resumed the husbandly role of a childless rich couple. Jun slammed the door behind them, muttering about stupid Americans. He walked down the five concrete steps in a daze and held the car door for Mei like a good husband should. He turned the ignition and started the ride he loved, but something was wrong. It didn't shine like it used to. He got behind the steering wheel and drove down the road. The engine didn't purr anymore either. No joy eased up from the throttle to his palm. The gearshift felt cold. The whole d.a.m.ned car felt hollow. Empty.

After two blocks, the buzzing in his ear was the last straw. He jerked the elegantly designed vehicle to the curb while he pummeled the steering wheel, dash, and anything within reach. When that wasn't enough, he threw himself out of the car. The sight of his sleek machine poured more fuel on his already roaring fire of disgust. Zack hauled back and hit the pearl black beauty. Pacing back and forth, his frustration escalated. He kicked the side panel because he knew kicking the tire would only break his foot. Nothing helped. He raked his fingernails over his head, full of self-loathing that knew no bounds. The gentle weight of that child still rested against him, her fragile head against his heart. A mighty groan rose within, one he could not allow to spill out. All he had was this stinking car!

At last, Mei's voice broke through the rage. "Agent Lennox. No. Please stop."

He stilled, taut in the chilly November morning, heaving great breaths that didn't give any relief. The muscles in his arms twitched. It was hard not to strike her, too.

What have I done? Why didn't I take that baby out of there? I could have.

The bitter word dug at him. Coward.

"I have to go back."

"No. It's not why we went there. We're on a mission." She threw the word at him like it meant something, clutching his elbow like he might fall. "Can you drive?" she asked.